Dubai, 27 March 2019: Liv., the lifestyle digital bank by Emirates NBD and the fastest growing bank in the UAE, has partnered with US-based Kasisto, the creators of the KAI Banking AI platform for finance to introduce Olivia, Liv.s conversational AI (artificial intelligence) based chatbot.

With the launch of Olivia, Liv. customers can get account information and insights on their spending as naturally as texting a friend. Olivia has a deep understanding of Liv.s banking and lifestyle offerings. The chatbot can help customers get quick answers on how to make a local transfer or to block their card; text back accounts balance or how many Livions have been earned. Olivia can also answer queries on how much customers have spent last month on groceries or in restaurants, helping them plan and manage their finances better. Furthermore, Olivia can seamlessly hand over the conversation to the Liv. team if customers prefer to chat with a customer service agent.

Chatbots are AI-enabled computer programs designed to simulate human communication, allowing them to answer customer queries in real time. As AI uses human interaction to constantly adapt, grow and learn, Olivia was trained by Liv. customers in a voluntary mentorship program prior to her launch. Over 3,000 mentors interacted with the chatbot using natural or conversational English, offering Liv.s customers a chance to co-create a more intuitive and personalised customer experience.

Virtual assistants are playing an increasingly important part in our daily lives and our new chatbot Olivia will offer millennial customers a new way to engage with and receive information and instant insights on their spending and finances, said Jayash Patel, Head of Liv. Our partnership with Kasisto helped us leverage KAIs agile platform with built-in banking expertise and complemented by customer feedback, to humanise and train Olivia in line with our goal of serving as a financial buddy to customers.

By utilizing application programming interfaces (APIs) to integrate with data management platforms and applying appropriate algorithms or rules, chatbots add a new dimension in delivering personalized insights and support for customers. During the mentorship programme, Olivia was able to offer instant assistance to over 80,000 customer questions, while learning and incorporating additional nuances of natural language based communication of UAE customers.

Liv.s goal of providing a differentiated digital experience for a new generation of customers, empowering them in their daily lives, learning and adapting to their individual preferences, and providing a banking platform that is intuitive and simple to use matched perfectly with Kasistos vision to enable customers to make better financial decisions through human-like conversational AI, said Zor Gorelov, CEO and Co-Founder of Kasisto. Were thrilled that Liv. chose KAI, Kasistos state-of-the-art conversational AI platform to create Olivia and power its conversational experiences as they embark on their journey to create a unique and innovative new bank.

With chatbots becoming more widespread in customer service, Gartner predicts that in the near future they will handle no less than 85% of all customer interactions. To introduce Olivia, Liv. launched an innovative, teaser marketing campaign across social media channels. The campaign included opening a job position for a chatbot, accepting applications, conducting live interviews with the final five candidates, following which Olivia was hired.

Curious whether Olivia is a girl? Go ahead and ask Olivia and get the answer!